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What octane gas do you use in your SV?

4K views 32 replies 17 participants last post by  Jimmie 
#1 ·
Just wondering what gas you guys (and girls) use in your SV.
 
G
#7 ·
92 octane

whenever I use 89 or 87 octane... My SV feels as if it loses power and it sounds different. Its hard to explain.
I never use 87 or 89 octane because of that.
92 octane is much cleaner than 87 and 89. I've also used 110 race fuel a few times. didnt feel much difference but my lap times were a bit quicker.
Dont know if it was the 110 octane that made me quicker.
 
#9 ·
Re: 92 octane

1fastSV said:
whenever I use 89 or 87 octane... My SV feels as if it loses power and it sounds different. Its hard to explain.
I never use 87 or 89 octane because of that.
92 octane is much cleaner than 87 and 89. I've also used 110 race fuel a few times. didnt feel much difference but my lap times were a bit quicker.
Dont know if it was the 110 octane that made me quicker.

placebo effect :shock:
 
#13 ·
#15 ·
race gas vs. pump fuel

If you're running race gas, you are most likely losing power, I can *almost* guarantee. I took my 240Z to the dyno (3.1 liter, 11:1CR NA inline 6), ran it on 93 pump and made 255rwhp (several runs between 250 and 255 as I optimized ignition advanced). Then I ran VP C11 race gas (~110 R+M/2 octane), and had to advance my ignition timing about 4 degrees and still LOST 12rwhp (several runs between 237 and 243hp). I've heard that in some SCCA regions, ordinary pump fuel is outlawed because of the hp advantage relative to track fuels!

Dan
 
G
#16 ·
tank mileage

I agree that you should always run the lowest octane your engine can take. I lost about 40 mi range when I put 88 octane in the tank, so went back to 91. These engines have 11:1 compression. I thought that was premium territory for sure?
 
#19 ·
Re: tank mileage

For an automobile engine, 11:1 is pretty high. For a bike engine, not really. The new ZX6R has 13.5:1 CR. Now THAT may be 91 min octane territory. Suzuki specifies 87 octane. That's probably all any of us needs.

Ignition advance shouldn't necessarily require higher octane, but higher octane will probably require more ignition advance (for max performance)!

Dan
 
#23 ·
Re: tank mileage

uglydog56 said:
... These engines have 11:1 compression. I thought that was premium territory for sure?
Depends on a LOT of stuff, but for the most part, combustion chamber design has a lot to do with it. If I tried to run 11:1 pistons in my '68 Mustang I'd end up having to run 104 or higher octane fuel just to keep it from detonating. That's because the tent-topped pistons would make for a very thin but extremely broad squish area, the sharp edges on the heads make great places for preignition to start (they get very hot and don't shed the heat well), and the intake tracts and valve angles don't encourage good intake swirl (which helps the flame front to propagate more evenly through the intake charge).

The SV has none of these flaws, and runs very happily on 87 octane regular.

Bill
 
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